I am an hourly employee working working in an IT position. I am required to be on call every other week, rotating with a salaried employee that lives in Washington. My normal work hours are from 9-5, Mon-Fri. I keep track of my time spent answering calls and performing work outside normal business hours and am compensated accordingly. I am forced to leave 30 minutes early on the days that I am on call to help prevent working any overtime. My boss expects me to check the voicemail every 15 minutes starting from 7 am going through 9-9:30 pm Mon-Fri, and 11 am though 9 pm Sat-Sun. In order to be able to do this, I am not allowed to engage or perform in any activity that renders me unreachable, or would impair my cellular signal. As such, I am required to be at home since when I take a call I need to use my work-issued laptop to perform whatever task is needed. We get 3-7 calls a day usually. My question is, is it ethical or legal to force me, an hourly employee, to stay at home and put my personal life on hold so that I am reachable 14-15 hours a day? I have been told sarcastically by my boss that since it only takes a few seconds to check voicemail, I would be reimbursed the 5 minutes total per day that is required for me to do this (I actually have to call into the call center and check the voicemail for an extension, so it takes about a minute or two each time). Also, if I stay home sick, I have been forced to remain on call. I am getting tired of having to arrange my personal life in accordance with my work life. I have asked about becoming salaried exempt, but according to my boss is not possible due to the amount of pay I am recieving, and the fact that I do not manage anyone. Please get back to me with any information regarding this. I can provide more specifics if need be.

They are paying you properly. The only real solution, if you don't like having to be on call so much, is to find another job that doesn't require it.